The boss of the UK medicines regulator - which has given the green light to a new Covid treatment that could cut hospitalisation and death by 79% in high-risk patients - says it "signals another significant step forward in our fight against this devastating disease".

MHRA chief executive, Dr June Raine says: "With no compromises on quality, safety and effectiveness, the public can trust that the MHRA have conducted a robust and thorough assessment of all the available data."

Chairman of the Commission on Human Medicines, Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed says it has independently reviewed the data and agrees with the MHRA’s regulatory approval of Xevudy.

“When administered in the early stages of infection, sotrovimab (Xevudy) was found to be effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death in high-risk individuals with symptomatic Covid-19."

The government and the NHS will confirm how the treatment will be deployed to patients in due course.